29 April 2009

Danish Helmet Propaganda

A number of readers spotted this on the internet today. It's a fake viral film from our Danish Cyclists Federation. Slowing chipping away at Danish bike culture without worrying about facts and science. It's also funded by Aalborg County - who should be spending their money on better infrastructure an education instead of fearmongering - and the police, who should be spending their strained resources on clamping down on speeding motorists.[our source 'Deep Throast' suggested that it was our car-centric Road Safety Council who was behind the viral film, but we've corrected that. Same family of fear-centrics, though]

It's funny and well-made. But imagine what good they could do if they used their energy to promote cycling instead of making cycling appear dangerous here in the world's safest bicycle nation. Instead, they are quite keen on selling cars.

As many readers pointed out, there is no fitting of the helmet, no instructions on how to wear it properly, no size evaluation. Looking around Copenhagen, 3/4 of the cyclists who wear helmets don't even wear them properly. It's kind of like tying a water wing around people's ankles and pushing them into the pool.

The Road Safety Council is also adept at producing viral films. This fake tv news piece, below, was popular a while back. Using humour and viral films on IMPORTANT issues.

How I yearn for the Dutch approach to selling cycling to be reimported into this Danish Culture of Fear.

Kilometres cycled by Copenhageners so far today

Copenhagenize.com is the blog of Copenhagenize Design Company. Online since 2007 and highlighting the cycling life in Copenhagen and around the world.

40 years ago Copenhagen was just as car-clogged as anywhere else but now 41% of the population arriving at work or education do so on bicycles, from all over the Metro area. 56% of Copenhageners themselves use bicycles each day. They all use over 1000 km of bicycle lanes in Greater Copenhagen for their journeys. Copenhagenizing is possible anywhere.